Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

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Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby Moose » Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:50 pm

Hey, ‘buds! Please join me in welcoming to the restart of the Ask the Musher series our very own Intensekarin, known to the rest of the mushing world as Karin Hendrickson! (Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!)
Karin-1s.jpg


Here are a few assumptions I’ve made following Karin's mushing career:

Karin has spunk: I'd rather be tough than pretty, I'd rather be competitive than popular, my driving goals are to run dogs and do it well. That includes doing it the way I want to do it, which is founded upon a deep connection and love between me and each of my dogs.

And she’s innovative! Clearly evident from these excerpts on setting a hook plucked from her Black on Blue Kennel website: "Whoa!" I shouted. "Whoa!" . . .I grabbed for the snow hook. . .and watched it shoot behind me on its eight foot leash. Still hanging on with one arm, I began to reel the hook in. Pulling a rope up hand over hand, while using only one hand, and while dragging on your face over snow at a high rate of speed is somewhat tricky. Finally, I got a hold of the hook, and began jamming it into the snow. But it wouldn't grab. I banged it, I jammed it, I pressed on it. In desperation, I began to bounce my body on top of the hook, praying that it wouldn't flip over and eviscerate me. And finally, after only 100 yards on my face, the hook grabbed, and the team jerked to a stop.

She's a quick study! Only a few moments later: The dogs lunged forward, crashing into the traces. Screaming, they slammed again and the hook popped. As the sled tore out of my grasp, I made a reckless dive and managed to cling to the trailing snow hook as it kite-tailed along behind the sled. After several moments of fishtailing through the snow, I clawed hand over hand up the rope, back to the sled. I had the belly-flop method of setting the hook down by this time, and managed to bring the whole contraption to a halt after only 50 yards.

She’s free-spirited: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRPiEsYOYuc

And she has the thickest, darkest head of hair on the Iditarod trail!
Karin-2s.jpg


There's LOTS of good info about Karin and the team to be found on FB and her website.
Blue on Black Kennel website: http://www.blueonblackdogs.com/
Karin Hendrickson on FB: https://www.facebook.com/#!/karin.hendrickson.9?fref=ts

Post your questions for Karin here. She'll be stepping into the forum spotlight/hotseat to answer those questions shortly.

Welcome, Karin, to Ask the Musher!
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby COHusky » Tue Apr 02, 2013 6:19 pm

Greetings Karin,
Nothing wrong with being both tough and pretty!
A couple of questions ...
On the radio interview you mentioned a difficulty in hiring good handlers (sounded like an issue musher wide).
Can you tell us a little more about your kennel and what a "day in the life" of a BlackOnBlue handler would entail?
Also, the Iditarod seems to be your "big" race. Any thoughts/plans in someday running the Yukon Quest?
Thanks so much for for sharing with us here.
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby sc-race-fan » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:13 am

Karin, I'm a Black on Blue Kennels t-shirt wearer and really enjoyed supporting your team this year. It gets a lot of good comments regarding the t-shirt and it allows me to introduce dog sledding and the Iditarod. I have been an Iditarod fan for many years, starting way back when Sonny King, (from South Carolina) was a vet then a musher on the trail. My question is what is your real daytime job? After listening to the radio interview you did last year, it sounds like you are very focused and a great planner, so I just want to know what you do everyday. Do you think small kennel mushers are at a disadvantage in a race like the Iditarod? With the broken bolt, would a plastic "zip-tie" have sufficed and do you carry a few of them along with the standby "ducktape"? Thanks again, for "allocating time" and for joining us here in the electronic world, we drop by all year and you are always welcomed.
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby txbennett » Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:00 am

Hi Karin -- thanks a bunch for joining us here in the BSSD Forum, and for being an active member of our forum. Thank you especially for speaking up for and representing the fans within the Iditarod and other mushing venues. With your help we saw a major improvement in the coverage provided during this year's racing season.

I share the questions of sc-race-fan. I think you are a "private" person, but I would appreciate getting to know a little more about you and your life outside of racing sled dog, but only as much as you feel comfortable sharing.

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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby MelanieGouldFanBrian » Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:01 am

Hi Karin.
First I wanted to say how much I enjoyed and appreciated the interview Robert Forto did with you on Dogworks radio very much, and also your 2008 Good Morning America appearance prior to your rookie run. We are also so happy that you are a member of our little forum and post some great things for us. Thanks.

Curious to know how your kennel has grown and progressed since you first started it? How many dogs do you now have?

Also wondering if Varan plans to run the Iditarod in the future and if both of you will run it together someday?

Thanks again for doing Ask with us.

Brian

Here is link to Karin interview on Dogworks Radio

http://dogworksradio.com/2012/07/25/mus ... ndrickson/
Last edited by MelanieGouldFanBrian on Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby fladogfan » Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:44 pm

Hi Karin,

Thanks for taking time to chat with us. I sat here laughing at your "Put It On, Put It On" video that moose posted above. You looked like you were having fun, but I bet you got hot putting on all that outfit indoors.

Found this video that our own emwcee posted of a Good Morning America interview with you as a rookie and Martin Buser. This is a good time to learn how to correctly pronounce Karin's name (it's on this video). Your Mom taught me in 2010 in Nome. What a cool lady, she is very proud of you. Did you work at Martin's kennel when you moved to Alaska? Did you work at other kennels?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYwlbx_zlBk
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby Breeze » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:36 pm

Karin, it is always a treat to have you here in the forum.

You may have answered this a zillion times, but I'll ask anyway...... do you have a personal preference for the Northern or the Southern Iditarod Route? Does the Race Route for a particular year affect your planning, training, drop bag contents and dog selection for the differing Mid-Race?

Thanks so much for doing this with us.

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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby intensekarin » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:19 pm

Hi everyone -
This is going to be fun!
First of all, Ms. Moose - you are pretty funny! But I think you pretty much have me pegged. I do want to make sure everyone knows that the excerpts about setting the snowhook come from my story about my FIRST EVER time on a dog sled. I have a little more control and finesse now.
And now for some answers (this is getting long, so more to follow):

"you mentioned a difficulty in hiring good handlers" Oh boy, it's a universal problem. It is tough, dirty, unforgiving work. The ONLY reason anyone would want to do it is if they want to learn how to become a musher themselves. Those people tend to go to a big, competitive kennel. Even then, a lot of people become disillusioned when they see how 'glamorous' it really is. That leaves me with people who think maybe it would be interesting to live in Alaska in the winter, and decide to give it a shot. They almost always quickly come to realize it isn't all that interesting. I've had people steal from me, do drugs (serious, hard drugs) in my house, lie about getting food drops done until it was almost too late to get them done, 'forget' to get up to feed dogs, leave after 2 weeks, leave after 2 days, the list goes on. I've also had the privelege of being assisted by some of the hardest working, most honest, incredible people in the world. I had one of the good ones this year. Her name is Miriam Osredkar. You will see her name again in the future - she is going places!

"Can you tell us a little more about your kennel and what a "day in the life" of a BlackOnBlue handler would entail?" Here's an e-mail I send to prospective handlers. You can see I really sell it!

Here is a little bit (OK, a lot) more about dog handling . This is how I got my start in Alaska just a few years ago, and it was one of my best experiences ever. It is a LOT of hard, dirty work for no pay. I'm not sure why anyone would want to do it, but if you are looking for adventure and a way to experience the real Alaska, this is it.

You must have the following traits and experience:
Love dogs
Motivated hard worker
Trustworthy, honest, and dependable - you will be sharing our home with us
Reasonably fit and tough.
Have experience working a full time, physical, outdoor job
Safe driver with current license, and experience driving on winter roads
Can competently drive and back a trailer
Be available through April if possible

In exchange for working long hours in the cold, 7 days a week, you will;
Have your own room in a beautiful , comfortable log house
Eat pretty well
Experience Alaska wilderness
Live in a stunningly beautiful location north of Willow
Hang out with some incredible, wonderful dogs
Hang out with some pretty cool people
Learn how to care for and train a team for world class competition – you’ll be involved in every step of every preparation as we get ready for Iditarod.
Get a chance to learn how to run your own team

A typical day for a handler would include lots of physical labor, almost all of it outdoors in the cold. Chores include: feed in the mornings by 8:00, clean up the dog lot, work on meat cutting and other projects for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. Help hook up and/or run teams, help put the team away, help with evening feeding around 9:00 or 10:00 p.m.

There is alot of cutting meat on the band saw for meals and for snacking. (Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of meat, all cut up into 1/4 pound slices. Most of my memories of being a handler revolve around cutting meat....) Also gear and equipment maintenance and repair, dog maintenance and repair, race prep and packing, moving snow, and a million other little tasks. When I was a handler my days were typically 12-14 hours long - it is way less at our place because we have less dogs. Lots of the time a handler isn't too busy. Then some times they might need to really kick ass to get everything done. A lot depends on how motivated and efficient the handler is.

You would be involved in every part of every day with the dogs, so you would learn just about every detail of how I run my kennel, care for the dogs, get them trained and conditioned, behavioral work, plan for racing and expeditions, etc. This is genererally the incentive to be a handler, because most people who sign up for this want to become mushers.

We live about 100 miles north of Anchorage, about 60 miles north of the nearest real town. We are a bit isolated, but we're usually too busy to notice. The house is nice and really comfortable - hot and cold running water, power, internet access (this is very cushy for a dog handler - many kennels don't have luxeries like electricity...) There is no wireless internet and your cell phone might not work in the house. The handler has their own room in the privacy of the downstairs. There is always plenty of food on hand, but meals are often on your own because we are out with the dogs or at work most of the time.

I am usually pretty easy going and easy to get along with. I used to be a teacher, so explaining why we do things is second nature to me. I am open to new ideas if you have them, but I am particular about everything being done correctly. The consequences of getting it wrong can be big (for example, not packing the right number of booties for a race or feeding the wrong amounts). My husband Varan is VERY laid back and easy going.

Basically, this is not a job - it is a trade. We offer room and board and fun. You learn and get a place to live in exchange for your help. That means we don't have worker's comp or insurance or benefits, etc. You would need to think about what you would do if you got hurt. You also need to think about what you would do if the situation doesn't work out - where would you go? (We aren't going to throw anyone out in the snow overnight, but you should have some sort of back up plan).

We've had a lot of different types come as handlers - some great, and some pretty damn bad. Since a handler lives in our home and shares our lives, the character of the person is really important to us. We don't want to deal with anyone that is going to steal from us, abuse our trust, have an alcohol or drug problem, etc. So we would need some good references who can assure us that you are the type of guy we would want to have living with us.

If you really are crazy and this sounds like something you would like to participate in, please tell me more about yourself and how you fit the description above.


"Tthe Iditarod seems to be your "big" race. Any thoughts/plans in someday running the Yukon Quest? " I would love to run the Quest. Well maybe - I'm not sure I'm tough enough! But the reality is this. I don't have much in the way of sponsorship, but what little I do have is because people know, and are excited about, the Iditarod. I can't feed the dogs without sponsorship, and I can't get sponsorship without running the Iditarod. So without Iditarod, I am out of dogs. It would be great to run them both - I know it would improve my team. But here's the other reality for me. I work full time, year round. I hoard my leave so I can take 3 weeks in March to run Iditarod. I don't have enough leave to do Quest also. So no - probably not going to do the Quest. I'm OK with that; Iditarod is enough for me.

I'll get to more answers tonight....
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby intensekarin » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:36 pm

OK - time for one more:
speaking of tee shirts, they are kind of cool looking:
tee.jpg


"what is your real daytime job?" I am the Pesticide Control Program Coordinator for the State of Alaska. It is a mostly desk job, ensuring that pesticides are safely used. I get to hire my own staff, so I work with great people. It is a very small program (5 people total), and we cover the entire state. So I do sometimes get to travel to interesting places. I've done inspections of stores, farms, etc. in Bethel, Ketchikan, Nome, and Little Diomede (look this one up!) to name a few. The hardest part is just that I do work full time year-round, so while most mushers have the winter months to devote to training, I am 10 hours at work and commute, and devote the 'rest of my day' to training.

"Do you think small kennel mushers are at a disadvantage?" Well, yes. You just don't have as many dogs to choose from.

"With the broken bolt, would a plastic "zip-tie" have sufficed and do you carry a few of them along with the standby "ducktape"?" I can fix just about anything with what I have in my tool kit. It was stretched pretty thin this year when I snapped THREE stanchions, but I made it work for another 750 miles. :P Here's what I carry in my tool kit:
Aluminium splint (I think I want 2 of these from now on)
Hose clamps (more of these too!)
Zip ties (the expensive 3M kind that don't snap in the cold)
Parachute cord
Wire
Needle and heavy thread
Carabiner
2 or more of each size of bolt and fastener on my sled
Box end wrench for each size of bolt and fastener on my sled
Small folding saw (much more handy than an axe!)
Hockey tape (does not shatter in cold like duct tape does)

Karin
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Re: Ask the Musher - KARIN HENDRICKSON

Postby COHusky » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:52 pm

This is so cool!
Thanks so much Karin for making the time and providing really good, in-depth responses.
You also have a great sense of humor.
Very nice of you to give a shout out to your handler as well, classy!
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